Heavy downpour, prolonged monsoon and poor drainage system have damaged more city roads this year compared to the previous years, city corporation officials said.
About 30 per cent roads of the 1350-kilometre road network in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) or 300 kilometres have been damaged this year while the length of damaged roads in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) is 158 kilometres. The total road network of the city excluding newly added 16 unions is about 2400km.
Last year the length of the damaged roads in DNCC was only 150 km and they spent Tk 2.50 billion on repairing the same. But DSCC could not give any comparative statistics as they did not notice that much of damaged roads last year, officials said.
DNCC has sought a block allocation of Tk 2.0 billion from the local government ministry while DSCC Tk 5.62 billion to repair the damaged roads.
DNCC engineering department sources said the process of repairing part of the damaged roads with the corporation's own money and under some GoB projects is underway. The amount is estimated at over Tk 2.0 billion. Of the fund meant for road repair, Tk 1.80 billion will be allocated to 36 ward councillors meaning that each of them will get Tk 50 million.
Talking to the FE, DNCC superintendent engineer Sharifuddin Ahmed said 90 per cent of the ward level work has been awarded. The severely damaged major roads are Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Mirpur, Progoti Saroni, Tejgaon, Satrasta, Gabtoli, and Khilkhet.
Mr Sharifuddin said the road in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area is one of the most damaged roads. But it belongs to public works department (PWD). The process of handing over the road to the city corporation is underway. The repair work of Khilkhet road will start from October 15 at a cost of Tk 260 million.
The repair work of the major roads will start from November soon after getting the block allocation from the ministry and will be completed before next monsoon.
"We have submitted two DPPs for the integrated projects to repair the major roads -- one worth Tk 17 billion and another Tk 32 billion," he said.
Regarding the quality of the roads, Mr Sharifuddin said the city corporation maintains quality in their works but water-logging due to insufficient drainage system damages the roads. It is DWASA's responsibility to resolve the water-logging problem. But they did not do anything to improve the drainage system. Also canals in the city are either illegally grabbed or filled up.
Echoing the same reason for the city roads getting damaged, DSCC chief engineer Farazi Shahabuddin Ahmed said they have submitted a DPP worth Tk 7.42 billion. The DPP includes construction of a new road too. Total repair cost of 158-km primary and local road has been estimated at Tk 5.62 billion.
The DPP includes repair of 84-km drain, construction of 82-km drain and 72-km blind-friendly footpath.
"We submitted the DPP last month but the ministry has sent it back this month for review of some points. We are in severe fund crunch and dependent on government allocation," he said.
The ministry has asked them to start the repair works from January next year after approval of the projects.
"We have got an allocation of only Tk 100 million in the budget for urgent repair. If the ministry gives us money, we can start the repair works and complete it before next monsoon," he said.
